


Juno Steel and the Final Stand of Good Souls

by TheSpookyVarietyHour



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: ... or the summary, Gen, Not as dramatic as the title suggests, not using real tags because it'll spoil the fun :D
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:20:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24715234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSpookyVarietyHour/pseuds/TheSpookyVarietyHour
Summary: Ah. Good evening, traveller, and welcome to The Penumbra. Our next stop… Archive Tower.The junction lies just ahead, traveller. Do not be alarmed… we are taking a rather unorthodox route today. This will not be one of Juno Steel’s usual adventures.The adventure you are about to witness is a dive into the hypothetical. Always look to the people standing by your side, traveller. Your faith in them will act as a bulwark, protecting you from the tyranny of evil men.But… when they’re all gone, traveller, and it is simply you against the darkest forces the universe can muster, instead turn your faith to your instinct, your wit, and the blaster in your hand.Our next stop… Juno Steel and the Final Stand of Good Souls.Ah, and Traveller? Good luck.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	Juno Steel and the Final Stand of Good Souls

**Author's Note:**

> I've spent ages trying to write many things and then had this idea in the shower and smashed it out immediately please enjoy!

Juno’s back landed against the cinderblock wall. He couldn’t muster two thoughts to rub together, his mind flooded with the sounds of his own breathing and the distant sounds of gunfire.

The Archive Tower Security Zone was hardly Juno’s favourite location, but he knew it well. Three levels to the zone in total, which were all functionally identical, intended to be able to triple the throughput of people seeking entrance to the upper levels, some of which were for officers, others for high-end apartments, and others again for workshops and laboratories. Unfortunately, the ATSZ had multiple security checkpoints, so it was all bulletproof windows, reinforced walls, and variously secure armories, all of which had been raided before the Carte Blanche (sans Rita and Buddy) had arrived. Their mission? Secure the ATSZ so larger, more equipped groups could liberate the rest of the tower. At some point in this effort, the group had become separated, leaving Juno to fight his way through Sector Bravo alone.

Now, Juno was crouched behind an overturned desk in one of the offices that ran parallel to the checkpoint hallway. He had no idea if the desk would offer any actual protection, but at the very least he wasn’t immediately visible from the door, which, with a ‘swish’, suddenly opened. Juno glanced up, into the window in front of him, to catch a dark silhouette slipping into the room. This, coupled with the heavy metallic footsteps, led Juno to conclude that this intruder was one of the robotic soldiers that had overtaken the tower.  
With a quick flourish, Juno stood and spun, his blaster firing off to put a bolt clean through the soldier’s mechanical head. The mechanism spasmed as power surged throughout it, before it crumbled heavily to the ground. Juno slotted his blaster back into his shoulder holster, in favour of taking up the soldier’s rifle.

“Steel.” He began, speaking into his radio. “Ransom? Vespa? Can anybody hear me?”  
“Juno…” Peter’s voice came back, full of relief to begin with, but his voice soon began to crack. “Vespa and Jet… they’ve been overrun. Alpha and Charlie both…”  
“Fuck…” Juno breathed, taking a moment to double-check his new weapon. “Where are you now?”  
“This is too much, Juno… we can’t do it! We need to leave!” Peter began to panic, and Juno heard the sounds of gunfire both through the radio and through his free ear. He was close.  
“Keep it together, Ransom!” Juno practically barked. “I’m coming to you, we can get through this together!”

There were another four of those robots between Juno and Peter which Juno dispatched with some fancy gunplay. The robot soldiers were cost-efficient to manufacture and saved the need to train and, more importantly, pay human soldiers, but they weren’t a terribly good shot. Quantity over quality was their motto. It was only a short time before Juno reached the far side of Sector Bravo. Peter Ransom had sealed himself inside the checkpoint control room, and a small group of the robotic soldiers were attempting to break through the secure windows. As well as not being good fighters, they weren’t particularly smart, hoping their fists could break through bullet-proof plastiglass. Juno took a deep, steadying breath, drawing on the experience he’d gained during all of his years in Hyperion City. A deadeye quickdraw with a rifle was… sort of the same as a pistol, right? Just… shoot on instinct. 

Not a single shot landed true. It was apparently _not_ the same. The robot soldiers quickly turned to Juno.  
“...uh, well, ladies…” He hummed nervously, not entirely sure where to go from here. “I think we got off on the wrong foot?”  
Juno dove into an alcove in the hallway wall before the space he’d been occupying filled itself with blaster fire. How completely undignified of them, Juno thought as he shuffled about to duck out, firing off a few more rounds. He was at a severe disadvantage in his current position, and his odds didn’t look like they were going to improve any time soon.  
That was until he glanced out again, and watched as the robots were suddenly shredded by a hail of gunfire flowing through from their left. Juno blinked, looking down at his rifle, briefly wondering if he had done that.  
His answer came in the form of thundering footsteps, slowly thumping from the hallway in the same direction as the gunfire. Juno could feel the footsteps through his boots, and his nerves began to flood his mind with anxiety.

The source of the footsteps was a bizarre looking individual, a power-armoured beast of a person standing an easy eight feet tall. They were donned in what looked like a cross between medieval plate armour and a sports car, topped off by a sky-blue cape that draped down to its knees. Held in its gigantic mechanical-looking hands was a laser minigun that was almost the size of a motorcycle. Juno noticed, with some slight confusion, that the letters “T_B” were printed on each of its breastplates.  
“Uh…” Juno called out. “Thanks?”  
The giant regarded Juno for a second, before turning to look at Ransom through the window, who looked about as shocked and confused as Juno. After what seemed like a moment's thought, the giant wound back an armoured fist and slammed it into the window, breaking a clean hole in the corner of the extremely strong, super unbreakable, definitely very secure window. The giant reached for a ball-shaped item at its belt, pulled a pin from it, and threw it through the window.

“No!” Juno cried out as the room Ransom had previously occupied was suddenly wreathed in flames, anything inside instantly incinerated. The giant turned its gaze and its minigun back to Juno and immediately opened fire.  
Juno didn’t have time to think about Ransom, and barely had the time to duck back into his hiding spot before those sizzling bolts cut through the air beside him. He considered all possible options open to him; to fire at the giant would probably get him shot. To dive for the next available cover away from the giant would probably get him shot. To lay down his weapon and surrender would probably get him shot. It was quite the position he was in, he mused, the thought disrupted by the tell-tale clinking of a grenade landing on the steel floor beside him.

Juno swore aloud as he threw the controller down, his game terminal screen suddenly flashing white before the word “DEFEAT” spread out. Jet was sitting next to him on the couch, observing Juno’s gameplay and slightly humiliating defeat. Jet’s own screen, as well as both Ransom and Vespa’s, was identical to Juno’s.  
“It is clear our tactics are in need of revision.” Jet mused aloud. “Whoever this ‘T_B’ is clearly overwhelms us with their superior firepower. We need to remain together even after we enter the Security Zone, and perhaps use alternative tactics and subterfuge to defeat him.”  
Ransom was sulking on the other side of Juno. He’d never played this game before, and had fallen into that control room more or less by accident, and was flushed with embarrassment. Vespa had left almost immediately after her elimination, barely on-board with the game to begin with.  
“We shall try again.” Jet declared, and Juno offered his response by pushing up to his feet.  
“Tomorrow. I’m too hungry to even think about this right now.” In truth, the game was beginning to frustrate him, and he was simply looking to cool off. He left the room, crossing the Carte Blanche to find Rita’s room. Within, his friend was happily watching a stream, chewing on popcorn, while Buddy Aurinko stood behind her, combing away at her hair. Whenever it was game night, Rita and Buddy would retreat for a round of uncomplicated, relaxed pampering, leaving the rest of the crew to play whatever game they were currently working away at.  
Juno knocked on the door frame before leaning against it. “We’re done for the night.” He declared. “Thoughts for dinner?”  
Rita glanced back to her former boss, looking past Buddy. “Whatever you fancy, Mistah Steel!” She called back, and Buddy nodded in agreement. With a light huff, Juno nodded, and disappeared back into the hallway.

Buddy smiled slyly, patting Rita on the shoulder to indicate Juno had left. “Very well done.” She offered.  
“Nothin’ to it.” Rita grinned. She pressed a button on her terminal, and the screen switched away from her stream to a pure-white frame, marked only by the readout “TEDDY_BEAR WINS”.


End file.
